Direct & Indirect Characterization
Direct Characterization: the author reveals details about the characters through telling
Indirect Characterization: the author reveals details about the characters through showing
Read the short story “Slower than the Rest” by Cynthia Rylant.
Identify each sentence from the story as either direct or indirect characterization.
1. ____________Leo was the first one to spot the turtle…
2. ____________Leo’s father grumbled something about turtle soup…
3. ____________Leo’s mother was sympathetic toward turtles…
4. ____________Both his little sisters squealed when the animal stuck its ugly head out to
look at them and they thought its claws horrifying…
5. ____________...Leo was grateful for a pet of his own.
6. ____________He settled Charlie in a cardboard box, threw in some lettuce and
radishes…
7. ____________He hadn’t many friends because he was slower than the rest.
8. ____________...He had been separated from the rest of his classmates and placed in a
room with other children who were as slow as he.
9. ____________Charlie was the friendliest turtle anyone had ever seen.
10. ____________The turtle’s head was always stretched out, moving left to right, trying to
see what was in the world.
11. ____________...The lines around Charlie’s forehead and eyes and the clamp of his
mouth made Leo think Charlie was wise the way old people are wise.
12. ____________Leo was bored.
13. ____________He quietly walked over to the windowsill and picked up the box. He set it
on the teacher’s desk.
14. ____________ “But other animals”-he lifted the cover off the box-“have no hope. They
are too slow. They will die.” He lifted Charlie out of the box. “It isn’t fair,” he said, as
the class gasped and giggled at what they saw. “It isn’t fair for the slow ones.”
15. ____________Leo’s teacher had tears in her eyes.
16. ____________Leo’s thoughts drifted off. He thought about being home, lying in this bed
and drawing pictures, while Charlie hobbled all about the room.
17. ____________As he shook the principal’s hand and blushed and said his thank-yous,
he thought his heart would explode with happiness.
